If you’re new to this Substack, one of the things I’m offering subscribers in 2023 is A Year with Jane. We’re reading through Austen’s six novels this year and Emma is our read for March and April.
This is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Last week we read chapters 19-27 of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Austen and Aristotle
Jane Austen’s moral philosophy is deeply influenced by Aristotle. I’m certainly not the first to point this out. In his brilliant work After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre claims that “Jane Austen is in a crucial way . . . the last great representative of the classical tradition of the virtues.” She is noteworthy because she unites the Christian and Aristotelian moral traditions. I dive into this idea in my book, focusing on how Austen’s depiction of virtue and vice, but today I want to talk about a related concept: friendship.
The Nicomachean Ethics (and to be honest, I haven’t cracked the cover since my college days so set me straight where I fail) lays out Aristotle’s ideas on friendship. He categorizes them into friendships of pleasure, friendships of utility, and true friendships (friendships of virtue). With friendships of pleasure and utility, the friendship is anchored in these benefits rather than in common love for the good.
The friendship of pleasure is based in some pleasurable experience or activity. Perhaps you both like walking to Highbury together. This isn’t a bad thing, of course! But if you decided to only ride to town in the carriage, if this pleasure of walking together could not be experienced, the friendship would fizzle out.
The friendship of utility is based on how each friend can benefit the other. As landlord and tenant, Mr. Knightley and Robert Martin might experience a friendship of utility. Their partnership benefits each, but if Robert Martin rented land from someone else, if the partnership dissolved, it would be unlikely for them to seek each other out and spend time together.
But true friendship, friendship of virtue, is friendship for the sake of the friend herself—not from the pleasure experienced by her presence, not from the benefits one receives, but out of a shared love for what is good. To have this kind of friendship requires virtue and a love for the good. Such friendships take time to develop. They will be rare. And they will spur each friend onward to greater virtue.
So what kind of friendships do we see in Emma’s life? I think it’s pretty clear that her friendship with Harriet Smith is a friendship of pleasure. They experience pleasure in each other’s company, but the friendship does not help them grow in virtue. It is motivated by Emma’s selfishness as Emma finds pleasure in being flattered by Harriet and is clearly not putting Harriet’s happiness above her own.
Were Emma to cultivate a real friendship with Jane Fairfax, on the other hand, that friendship could grow into a friendship of virtue with each friend inspiring the other to choose the good. Jane is capable of that kind of friendship. Alas, Emma is so threatened by Jane that this cannot be. Emma’s own vices prevent her from seeking out this friendship and developing it. They are mere acquaintances—not friends at all.
For our discussion questions this week: What of Emma’s other friendships? Does she have any true friendships—friendships of virtue? At this point in the novel, do you think she is capable of such friendship? Could Mrs. Weston be considered a true friend to Emma or would you think of it as a friendship of utility that developed into a friendship of pleasure? What about her friendship with Mr. Knightley?
If a Janeite friend just urged you to join our Emma book club, welcome! I’m an author of books for both children and grown-ups, a Florida native who spent 13 years in Texas, mom of four kids ages 4-14, and wife to a whisky distiller. I’m the Editor of Word on Fire Spark so I like to think of my work as literary midwifery—helping bring new beautiful creations into the world. And for the purposes of this post about Austen, it might be good to know that I wrote a book called Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be.
Reading schedule:
Week of March 5th:
Gather your books. There are many editions out there, so just grab what’s on your shelf or at the local library. And if you enjoy audiobooks, this is an excellent novel to enjoy with a great narrator. My favorite for this novel is Juliet Stevenson’s audiobook version. Grab Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life from Ave Maria Press (use STEWART20 for 20% off) or from Amazon.
If you didn’t start reading with us in January, you may want to catch up by reading the Introduction and Chapters 1-2 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life to set the stage.
Week of March 12th:
Chapters 1-9 of Emma
Week of March 19th:
Chapters 10-18 of Emma
Week of March 26th:
Chapters 19-27 of Emma
Week of April 2nd:
Chapters 28-36 of Emma
Week of April 9th:
Chapters 37-45 of Emma
Week of April 16th:
Chapters 46-54 of Emma
Week of April 23rd:
Chapter 3 of Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life
TBA: Zoom Discussion with special guests, Marcia Lane-McGee and Shannon Wimp Schmidt.
If you know someone who would enjoy reading Austen with us for our Year of Jane, please share this post with him/her!
All Jane Austen book club emails and 2023 emails will continue to be available with a free subscription. But this is a reader supported effort. Consider supporting this literary Substack by upgrading to a paid subscription.
And if you know someone who would love this virtual book club, please share with them:
Looking forward to discussion more of Emma with you!
Haley
(Editor of Word on Fire Spark, Author, Former Podcaster)
Haley’s Children’s Mystery Series about Mouse Nuns
Haley’s Book on Jane Austen’s Novels
Haley’s Book about Radical Simplicity
I would say Emma has a budding friendship of virtue with Mr. Knightley. The fact that they can challenge each other is a sign of promise there. As Debbie said below, it's not as developed in Emma as it is in Mr. Knightley, but it is there, or she wouldn't get so wrapped up in knots by his displeasure.
I think that although there are many elements of a virtuous friendship between Emma and Mr. Knightley, it still functions as one of pleasure because of Emma’s perspective. She knows that Mr. Knightley finds some faults with her character and wishes to lead her in different directions, but I think she finds this more amusing than instructive. Even though he challenges her, he is so good-natured about it that Emma does not see it as serious. I know we’ve talked about how Emma wants to seek out only people who won’t challenger her, like Harriet, but I think she does enjoy the novelty of Mr. Knightley challenging her because it is done in a friendly way and gives her a chance to exercise her wit in a series of verbal sparring matches. Though Emma and Mr. Knightley often have interesting debates about various points of character, Emma is too interested in proving her own intellect to derive much in the way of virtuous instruction from Mr. Knightley.